Twitter Acquires CardSpring As It Gets More Commerce-Friendly

Twitter announced that it has agreed to acquire payments infrastructure firm CardSpring. The company helps merchants work with publishers to create online-to-offline promotions.

This seems like a good fit as Twitter moves further and further into the realm of ecommerce. CardSrping works with developers, publishers, merchants, and VARs, and offers an API that lets developers link apps to credit or debit cards.

"Twitter has always been a vibrant environment for users to discover product recommendations and promotions from artists, experts, brands and friends," says Twitter head of commerce Nathan Hubbard. "In fact, we’ve already given users the ability to get deals and discounts, surprise someone with a coffee, or even add items to their online shopping cart — all directly from a Tweet."

"As we work on the future of commerce on Twitter, we’re confident the CardSpring team and the technology they’ve built are a great fit with our philosophy regarding the best ways to bring in-the-moment commerce experiences to our users," he adds.

CardSpring provides the standard "we're being acquired" message on its own site, talking about its vision when it started out, and thanking everybody that helped along the way. The company says:

We see the intersection of payments and digital media as an opportunity to revolutionize how consumers use credit and debit cards, while helping retailers to connect and communicate with their offline shoppers - much in the same way the Internet has enabled online stores to create relationships with their online customers.

When we started talking with the Twitter commerce team, we quickly realized our philosophies were perfectly aligned, and by joining them, we’d be able to significantly accelerate our vision. So we’re making it official and are joining the flock! At Twitter, we will continue to grow the adoption of our platform and work with our publisher, financial, and retail partners to create new, innovative commerce experiences for consumers.